3.75 stars!

The first time Leah encounters Eli, she's just overheard his proposal to his girlfriend be rejected. When Eli's ex jets off to Italy, he commits to a rom-com approved total appearance and personality makeover to win her back - something that Leah can't help but get involved in, given her many jobs across town that intersect with that task. What follows is a friends-to-lovers story that's as much about found family/finding a home as it is falling in love.

The characters mentioned Gilmore Girls a handful of times, and that's definitely what this book reminded me of - small town, close friends, good rapport, and plenty of pop culture references! The Rom-Com Agenda is a very sweet book that touches on some more difficult themes, including parental death, cancer, and mental health. I enjoyed several components, in particular the supporting characters and the small town setting. Things also really picked up by the end. However, it took a while for me to get into it and I think I would have preferred more of a slow-burn.

I have read a lot of books over the years, but this is the first book where I can honestly say that my favorite character was that upstate New York cold cold weather. I honestly felt so engrossed and enamored with the description of the weather the snow ice temperature, it set the mood of this book in so many ways. Beautifully beautifully written in.

The premise of the story was better than I imagined, it was like reading Gilmore girls mixed in with friends . It was funny witty and unique.

The main characters were so perfectly
Flawed and real. I enjoyed reading them.

The only reason I can’t rate this higher is because I didn’t feel like the romance was fully developed. Conflicts came and went without full development or resolutions. The ending was too rushed and simplified. After the set up of the premise of the book , i really wanted more angst.

I am the biggest fan of rom coms!! Even though they are all super cheesy and predictable, I love em. That means I also have really high expectations for rom coms.
Eli thought that his ex girlfriend, Victoria, was the one for him. She was planning to move to Rome and broke Eli's heart when she moved. Eli went on and on talking about wanting to get her back and his friends tried to help him get a rom com makeover and of course that included watching numerous rom coms. Leah experienced Eli's failed proposal, but still agrees to help him with his makeover. As she helps Eli with the makeover, she starts to develop feelings for him and he does for her as well.

I was frustrated with how Eli could not see that Leah was for him. He was obsessed with his ex even when she left him. at the end of the day, I am glad that Eli and Leah were able to get on the same page.

Unfortunately this book didn't work for me.
I didn't love how Eli spent so much of the book pining for Victoria. The makeover plot, which sounded fun in the synopsis, felt very superficial and often came across as mean from Eli's friends and sister.
I did like the cute business names (Thousand Island Dressing was my favorite!) and the throwbacks to the classic rom-com movies.
I think a lot of people would like this one, but it wasn't my favorite.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martins Press, and the author for an advanced copy of this book.

The Rom-Com agenda by Jayne Denker is a quick, fun, easy read if a slow-burn, friends to lovers romance is your jam. Leah grew up in the foster system, so she’s never really felt accepted or that she really has a family and after a year of taking care of her sick foster mom she’s trying to get back to her life as soon as possible. Enter Eli and his group of friends who are trying to “makeover” Eli via every 80/90s rom com so that he can win back the girl who broke his heart. Leah gets roped into helping and soon a friendship blossoms between her and Eli. I didn’t really love the whole let's make Eli into a different person so that his ex will love him again – he was perfect just the way he was and Leah saw that :) I did enjoy that this book was more than Leah finding a HEA, but her finally finding acceptance and a family too, even if it wasn’t in the traditional sense. I was also into all the 80/90s rom-com talk and it’s made me want to go back and watch all the classics.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book provided to me through NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Jayne Denker and St. Martin’s Press for giving me the opportunity to read this book!

The Rom-Com Agenda is a lovely and endearing book! It is the perfect combination of humor and warmth, and the witty and sharp banter between Eli and Leah made me so happy. What made me even happier were Leah and Eli themselves; they were delightful and charming, but there was an edge to them—especially Leah—that kept things from getting sappy. I laughed a lot, I fretted a bit, and I loved it all.

Thank you St Martin's press!!

The characterization in this book was on point! I love a funny romcom that references the best of the best romantic movies of the 80/90s. This was definitely a slow burn romance and if you're down for near misses this is book for you! Definitely a book to binge on the beach!!!

This is an adorable, albeit maybe a bit cliche, romance book. While it’s not a book that will make a lasting impression on the reader, it is a fun and enjoyable read. I recommend it for anyone who wants a fluffy friends to lovers story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

With that being said, this book just wasn't for me. The premise in the synopsis reminded me of a 90's-early 00's Rom-Com movie and sounded like fun, so I gave this a chance. Maybe the problem is me, or maybe it's the book, but this just didn't work for me.

The male lead here didn't feel realistic to me, and his moping for months and months after the girlfriend of his short-lived relationship refuses his marriage proposal was just sad. The way his friends suggested they make him over sounded fun in the synopsis, but felt so superficial and fake in the actual story.

I was too disappointed with the characters and the story so far to keep going, so I unfortunately need to DNF this book. A younger me would probably have kept going, and maybe would have enjoyed this more though.

A rom-com book about rom-com movies!

The premise of the book was nice but I feel like it could have been better executed. Individual parts of this book (especially those revolving the rom-com movies) were cute and worth reading, but the overall plot and pacing seemed off.

Some of the characters seemed immature. If this was a book about young adults (late teens or early 20s), this would have been more believable.


For most of the book, Eli pines over an ex-girlfriend who has dumped him. He only knew her for 4 months and tried to propose before she left on an oversees work-trip. Immediately, that seemed like a red flag. As the book continues, he is bling to see what is in front of him and accept that his past relationship was not perfect.

Leah is overworking herself and wishing to build up enough savings to move. She has past trauma that she works thought and an a**hole for a foster brother.



Read if you like:
- Friends to Lovers
- Found Family
- 80s and 90s romcoms

Thank you to Net galley for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I love a good friends to lovers book, but this book kind of fell flat to me. I felt like there wasn't really a "friends" part; from the moment they met there was mutual pining that was very frustrating to read because if they had just communicated with each other they wouldn't be having those problems.

I also found the pacing to be a little weird. For the first two-thirds of the book, the story kind of dragged on with them doing little activities and makeovers, which were fun to read, but then all of a sudden in the last third of the book, so many things were happening with Patrick coming to the house and Victoria returning. I kind of felt like I was reading a whole different book with the pacing shift.

Overall, I thought this book was cute and I definitely had fun and enjoyed reading it, but the execution fell a bit flat to me.

I typically eat up friends to lovers, and while this book was cute, it wasn't everything that I hoped it would be. It was cliché and I didn't love the characters, but the writing was great.

This was a super sweet and super cute lil friends to lovers story.

Eli wants to win his ex back. Leah is just trying to save up to get the hell out of Dodge. She accidentally gets roped into a Sandra Dee style makeover of Eli’s whole life so he can get his ex back.

I loved Leah and Eli’s relationship together. I love that this took place in North Country and made so many lil Upstate NY references that will be lost on anyone not from North Country/Central NY (I spotted that Dinosaur BBQ reference!).

It was a tiny bit frustrating to watch Eli be so freaking dense, but the payoff was well worth it. In general this wasn’t anything earth shattering, but was super fun to read.

I'm a huge fan of rom-coms so of course as soon as I saw the title I knew I had to read it. I wasn't *entirely* disappointed.

It was a fun read and I loved all the pop culture references in the book but that was all. I didn't really felt conected to the characters and the romance between the two mc was just off for me. I did like how the author wrote the friendship between the whole group even though it felt a little too much sometimes, and there was way too many side characters so it made a little hard to know who was who sometimes. Another bad thing was that the sideplots didn't really worked.

This was a fun read!
I really enjoyed the writing of the characters and how realistic they each felt. I've also never read a book with a character who was from the foster system so that was interesting for me.
The slow burn romance had me rooting for Eli & Leah the entire time.
The Gilmore Girls quotes made me very happy as well.
Overall, if you're looking for cute and cozy book to read next to a fire or in bed once it comes out in Janaury, this one is for you.

This book was exactly what I needed, a good rom com. It was so fun and endearing to read and i loved every part of it. I couldn’t recommend this book enough to people!! Can’t wait to get my own copy!!!

Your honour I love them!! Ahh it was one sweet and loving story with Eli and Leah as one adorable main characters! I loved their friendship and romance it was swoon-worthy to read about

Endearing and sweet and features one of my favorite tropes! Friends to lovers! I loved Eli (sigh) … and did anyone else get Schitt’s Creek vibes from the small town? Everything was adorable. You’ve been warned…. You won’t be able to put this one down once you start!

The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker is absurdly cute, and easy to get into!

This book was exactly what I needed — a fun read laced with humor.
The Rom-Com Agenda is a textured story of friendship and family
Being in the town of Willow Cove was inviting, welcoming and so delightful.
This book was a fun and very engaging story.
I loved the storyline and how easy it was to follow the story of these wonderful characters.
Which they were well developed and very relatable. Her character development was outstanding.
The uplifting story and the slow building chemistry between Leah and Eli is so charming and loving it will leaving feeling all the feels!
The author did an amazing job at making you feel like you were invited along for the journey.
Fair warning.... once you start reading, you won’t be able to put it down.
An irresistably fun, witty rom-com that was pure escapism… Exactly what you want from a romantic comedy.

"I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own."

St. Martin's Griffin,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this eARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC of The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker! 

What an adorable read! Set in a small town in upstate New York, it gave me all the Hallmark feels and would be the perfect cozy winter book. I loved watching Leah and Eli's relationship develop, and the slow burn was worth it! It's written closed-door, but still romantic with plenty of swoon-worthy moments. 

Tropes- Friends-to-lovers- Found family
What I liked:
- Small-town setting with lots of quirks. Super cozy and endearing!
- Fun, silly banter between MC's and side characters
- All the references to classic rom-coms. It definitely lived up to the title!
- Leah and Eli's relationship was just so sweet.
- I love the found family trope, and this book delivered. The side characters were so fun. I'd love to see more books written in this universe, but centered around different members of the existing cast!- Good pacing (I flew through this book!)

Overall, I really enjoyed The Rom-Com Agenda. It felt like a warm hug in a book and it would be perfect to read over the holiday season, or any time in winter!